


The present is all we have

by Tabaticbloom



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, Gen, Stan blames himself for filbricks decisions once again, Stangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabaticbloom/pseuds/Tabaticbloom
Summary: It takes Stan a couple of years too long to start regretting the choices he's made.
Relationships: Stan Pines/Marilyn Pines
Kudos: 11





	The present is all we have

“Do you ever… y’know…”

Stan flicked the butt off of his cigarette as he waited on Marilyn to finish that thought. They’d been sitting outside for hours now; long enough for the sun to dip past the horizon and leave the sky filled with blurry stars. Their unfocused look only reminded him that he still couldn’t afford to get himself a pair of glasses, let alone a check-up to see what kind he could nab from the nearest drug store.

He wasn’t one for sitting outside like this, but Marilyn enjoyed it, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer anytime soon.

“Do I ever what?”

He’d turned and looked her way when she didn’t speak up again. They were stretched out across the hood of the el diablo, an act he would’ve objected to years ago when the car was new and didn’t have a constant lingering scent of cigarettes and cheap drive-through food.

“Miss him?”

He tossed the rest of his cig into the grass and sighed. Tonight was previously going in the books as a good night before that question had been brought up. Why did it matter? As far as Stan was concerned, Ford had left him in the dirt with the rest of the family. If he cared about him, then he would’ve argued against their father like Stan had countless times for him.

Marilyn had turned to her side, laying a manicured hand on his forearm in an attempt to comfort him. He’d told her time and time again that he didn’t like to be touched, or grabbed, or coddled up to, but she always managed to push that bit of information to the back of her mind. The rest of her family wasn’t any different.

“I was just asking, Ley, ‘don’t gotta answer if you don’t want to.”

She could say that a million times and never mean it, but maybe that was one of the reasons he stayed. She could’ve been another one-nighter, or even a weeker if she was good to him, but somehow they’d been steady for a few months now. She’d even brought him up before the old man.

She had a knack for getting difficult things out of people. His mother would’ve tried striking up a business partnership if they’d ever met. Marilyn had him ranting about what they’d come to call ‘the fall out’ by their third date (was it even appropriate to call it such?) and even dared to agree with him on a thing or two about his family.

Stan could call her perfect if she was anything close to it.

“I’unno why you’re asking when you know the answer.”

She hummed and shuffled around on the hood of their- His car. She’d taken to calling it theirs recently, but it was his baby. It had his name on the plates for a reason. That was something no one could take from him.

“I bet he’s missin’ you too.”

The assertion made him snort. Ford was probably off studying some new element for all he could care. Stan doubted he had enough time on his hands to worry about his whereabouts.

How would he even get ahold of him in the first place?

He didn’t know how he could find him if he wanted to.

Stan knew he wouldn’t still be in Jersey, that much was obvious. They hadn’t spent countless nights talking about getting out of the shit hole that was glass shard for nothing to come of it. He’d probably gone off to study somewhere, or maybe he had a family of his own.

No, he knew him better than that. He couldn’t win someone over if he tried. He’d probably still be hanging around the family for the rest of his life until they all dropped dead. Then where would he be? Alone, just like he’d left Stan years ago.

That thought made him stop in his tracks. He didn’t want that for Ford. Being alone in Jersey with Filbrick and every other disgrace of a human being Glass Shard had spit out over the years was a hell he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemies. He had promised to be there for him through thick and thin and Ford had promised the same back to him. He knew Ford should’ve stood up for him but, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Stan had been the one to abandon him that night.

Stan flinched away when Marilyn reached over again to brush off the side of his face.

“I’m just keepin’ you from getting sticky, calm down.”

He tried to smile over the line, she deserved something for her efforts but, he didn’t have much to give. Grabbing the bottom of his shirt, he pulled it up to wipe his face clear of tears. When had he started crying? He wasn’t too sure about that. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things in his life anymore

What he did know was that he had to find a way to get a hold of Ford.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted on the "Involvet-Triangulum" tumblr, more of my work can be found there!


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